©18 
The Rural New-Yorker 
TI1E BCS1SESS FARMER'S PAPER 
A National Weekly Journal for Country and Suburban Homes 
Established fS30 
Published weekly by the Rural Pnblisiiinc Oompnny, 333 West 30th Street, New York 
Herbebt W. Colungwood, President and Editor. 
Jons J. Dillon, Treasurer and General Manager. 
Wm. F. Dillon, Secretary. Mks. E. T. Roylk, Associate Editor. 
SUBSCRIPTION: ONE DOLLAR A YEAR 
To foreign countries in the Universal Postal Union. (12.04. equal to 8 s. 6 d., or 
jjz marks, or 1034 francs. Remit in money order, express 
order, personal cheek or bank draft. 
Entered at New York Post Office as Second Class Matter. 
Advertising rates BO cents per agate lino—7 words. References required for 
advertisers unknown to us ; and cash must accompany transient orders. 
“A SQUARE DEAL” 
We believe that every advertisement in this paper is backed by a respon¬ 
sible person. But to make doubly sure we will make good any loss to paid 
subscribers sustained by trusting any deliberate swindler advertising 111 oui 
columns, and any sucli swindler will be publicly exposed, be protect sub¬ 
scribers against rogues, but we do not guarantee toadjust trifling oulei ences 
between subscribers and honest, responsible advertisers. Neither will « bo 
responsible for the debts of honest bankrupts sanctioned by the courts. 
Notice of the complaint must be sent to us within one :nmnth ot the time M 
the ti’aus&ction, and you must have mentioned The Rural JNKW-i orxkr 
when writing the advertiser. 
Prof. William A. Stocking, head of the dairy de¬ 
partment of the New York State Agricultural Col¬ 
lege at Ithaca, has been appointed supervising direc¬ 
tor, to succeed Liberty Hyde Bailey, resigned. We 
all recognize the difficulty in selecting a permanent 
head for the college to succeed Dr. Bailey. lie is in 
a class by himself, and the man who follows him 
enters upon a great task. Who are the great men 
thus far developed by our system of agricultural 
education? In the present condition the largest 
man in America is needed at Cornell. 
* 
On page STS we referred to a lot of nursery trees 
affected with crown gall. Calvin J. Iluson, Commis¬ 
sioner of Agriculture, gives us the following addi¬ 
tional facts about these trees: 
The fact is that a nurseryman outside of the State 
of New York shipped about 200.000 trees into this State 
and offered them for sale after they had been rejected by 
the original purchaser, a nurseryman. We were able 
to hold this shipment up for careful inspection, and all 
trees having galled roots were destroyed. Ihe trees 
were not grown in the State of New York and none 
of them was planted here. Calvin j. huson. 
In any event the Commissioner is right in holding 
up and destroying the galled trees. We recognize 
the fact that the authorities do not agree regarding 
the danger from this disease. The safe plan is to 
let them alone. * 
That article by Rev. A. S. Clayton on page 010 
is one of the most encouraging things we have 
heard of yet. Here is a case where farmers were 
able to get together and protect their rights. Sup¬ 
pose no effort had been made to combine these farm¬ 
ers. The telephone company could have done just 
about what they pleased. You see the Public Serv¬ 
ice people carefully ‘-filed” those complaints until a 
responsible man with 193 fighting signatures went 
right up to Albany. That commanded attention. 
What we call a “fighting signature” is the ink mark 
of a man who realizes what he is signing and who 
is ready to fight for what that signature stands for. 
Good for those Orange County farmers! They do 
not intend to have the juice of life squeezed out of 
their orange, with nothing but the peel left them! 
And here is fine work, too, for the country church, 
for self-defense and self-respect are part of true 
religion. * 
The express companies are now making their big 
move to cripple parcels post. Of course they keep 
away from publicity as far as possible. The post 
office department claims the right, under the postal 
laws, to regulate the service by changing rates or 
rules up to a certain limit without consulting Con¬ 
gress. Under this right the Postmaster General 
announced that after August 15 the weight limit 
will be raised from 11 pounds to 20, while rates for 
the first 150 miles will be cut in two. This is where 
the express companies got busy. The committee on 
post offices promptly questioned the right of the De¬ 
partment to make any such changes. The scheme 
is to take any such right away from the Postmaster 
General and give it entirely to Congress. This 
would mean that every little needed change or im¬ 
provement would have to be fought through Con¬ 
gress in the slow old political way. This is a shrewd 
and dangerous scheme of the express companies. If 
they can win they will hold back parcels post for 
years. The thing to do at once is to write your 
Congressman stating that you want this power to 
change or modify the rules left with the Postmaster 
General. It is proposed to raise the limit to 20 
pounds and make a rate inside the first two zones 
of five cents for the first pound and one cent for 
each additional pound. That means 24 cents fox- 
20 pounds. If the express companies do not control 
Congress parcels post will in time handle packages 
up to 100 pounds. Right here is where the battle 
will be fought, and every farmer should back up 
the Postmaster General. Get after your Congress¬ 
man at once. 
TMH> RURAL NEW-YORKER 
How can I know 1 am getting my money's worth? 
That is the plain question which dozens of our 
readers ask. They are farmers with small flocks or 
herds which they want to improve by the introduc¬ 
tion of pure blood. The theory of such improvement 
through a purebred sire of good pedigree is sound, 
and these men believe in it. They are l-eady to 
spend the money, but, naturally, they ask the ques¬ 
tion with which this paragraph starts. We* * are 
going to open up a thorough discussion of this ques¬ 
tion. We doubt if there is a paper in the country 
with so many readers who desire purebred stock for 
business purposes as can be found in the big R. N.-Y. 
family. Our people have learned the value of im¬ 
proved varieties of fruits and vegetables or grain, 
and they know what improved methods mean. They 
also want improved live stock. Of course they 
want the cow that makes two pounds of fat where 
the other cow made one and let one get by her. 
That is why we want to tell them how to get their 
money’s worth. 
* 
Since we started this question of the conservative 
father and progressive son the poets have come into 
the discussion. Here is one with both sentiment 
and sense: 
Now Adam most probably knew 
Much more about life than his son, 
But I’ll warrant his son snorted, “Pooh,” 
When father told what should be done. 
Like many a boy who is bright, 
He said, “The old man’s on the shelf.” 
Well—he learned that his father was right, 
But he had to find out for himself. 
Through trouble and sorrow and pain 
We gather the little we know, 
And then when we try to explain 
Our children just laugh as they go. 
You laughed at the words of your dad 
(And you’ve paid both in worry and pelf) 
And you’ll get the same deal from your lad, 
For he has to find out for himself! 
The gentleman who wrote that may go up ahead. 
It is sound as a nut, it is put in a nutshell and it 
tells the whole story. We rarely find any great 
fault with the young man who knows it all. “He 
has to find out for himself.” That sort of knowl¬ 
edge is riveted on while the brand which he takes 
because you tell him about it is fastened on with 
a poor quality of glue. We may think some tilings 
about the world have changed, but human nature 
is much the same as ever. 
* 
Just discussion is legitimate if confined to the actual 
facts. It is quite true that the defendants have repeat¬ 
edly expressed themselves as of opinion that the plain¬ 
tiff's contracts cannot he enforced. That conclusion 
can certainly only rest upon the belief that the farmers 
hare been imposed upon and did not understand the 
contracts, but it is a possible vieiv of the facts and 
might turn out to be true. 
Nearly every line of that famous decision of Judge 
Hand in the Strout injunction suit could be taken 
as a text for an editorial or in the pulpit. This week 
we take the matter of just discussion. Our theory 
is that a farm paper should have friendly and inti¬ 
mate relations with its readers. -It owes its very 
life to the subscribers who support it, for unless 
these subscribers can feel that the paper is really 
working for them its advertising power will become 
a mockery. No one can prove friendship without 
some sort of sacrifice and that comes through a 
square and open battle. TJie farm paper which con¬ 
fines itself to telling how to produce larger crops, to 
cautious talks on all sides of public questions or to 
heating the straw out of harmless scarecrows is only 
half a friend of its readers and does not give “just 
discussion.” No man who wears a muzzle can ever 
give this "just discussion,” for in order to put true 
justice into it the muzzle must be torn off and the 
man left free to speak his real mind and then stand 
up and take the consequences. We hold it to be the 
duty of a farm paper to give this just discussion— 
for two reasons. The farmers need the protection 
which this discussion of fakes or .rascals will give 
them and, more than that, they need the example 
or inspiration needed to bring this fighting spirit 
into their own lives and business. If 15 of our lead¬ 
ing farm papers would throw off the muzzle and 
take up this “just discussion” which Judge Hand 
speaks of—do it fearlessly and honestly—they could 
soon put 1,000 fakes out of business and do their 
readers more good than they ever will in any other 
way. A few of them begin to see this, and they are 
dividing over this Strout matter. They all know the 
facts by this time and if they now continue to wear 
the muzzle it is because they prefer to do so, rather 
than to give “just discussion.” They have had full 
time to make up their minds and the muzzle wearers 
can he picked out and classified. 
August 9, 
My attention was called last Fall to an < xample 
of a* lack of co-operation right here in Manhattan. 
High-grade Winesap apples, peddled on the streets of 
Manhattan by farmcrSj were going begging at $1 a 
bushel. At the same time second grade Jonathan ap¬ 
ples shipped in from Colorado were being retailed from 
stores here at the rate of $3.50 a bushel. That re¬ 
sulted from a lack of co-operation. There should have 
been a loyalty to home-grown apples, especially in this 
case because they were much cheaper. There is the 
same lack of the co-operative spirit when we buy 
oranges shipped in from California and allow fine ap¬ 
ples to rot in orchards right at the edge of town. 
That is from an address by President Henry J. 
Waters, of the Kansas Agricultural College. The 
same condition can be found in any college town— 
or any other town of ordinary size. Most of our 
agricultural colleges have done good work in teach¬ 
ing growers how to produce more and finer apples. 
Now they should lead in showing how to sell and 
distribute to better advantage. Who can do this 
better than the college authorities and graduates? 
It is one of the things which we must all keep talk¬ 
ing about until it becomes a part of popular thought. 
* 
We have here the names of the first batch of com¬ 
mission men to whom licenses have been issued. 
Others are to follow. After the Cole law begins 
working the Department of Agriculture will issue 
a bulletin containing names of all licensed producr 
dealers. As we know some of these dealers are de¬ 
manding a larger commission, though there is no 
justification for it. Others issue letters containing 
something like the following: 
Under the new law it is absolutely necessary that 
the shipper have some understanding with the merchant 
to whom he consigns his merchandise, as to whether or 
not he wishes his goods handled on a commission basis, 
or, if he cares to ship the same subject to the net price 
the commission merchant may return for his goods. 
We prefer to handle your goods subject to our inspec¬ 
tion on arrival and to pay you the host price net ac¬ 
cording to quality that we can. We have bandied 
goods for some time in this way and believe it to be 
to our mutual advantage, and any reliable merchant 
will always pay the best price he can for the simple 
reason that he has to if he wishes to do business and 
meet the strong competition which he has in this par¬ 
ticular line. 
When these men handle goods not marked “for 
commission” they claim to sell the goods at a fixed 
price, say nothing about commission and make re¬ 
turns somewhat below the regular market price. 
We warn our readers that when they want goods 
sold on commission by a licensed dealer they must 
notify the dealer that it is a commission sale. Other¬ 
wise the dealer may sell and return what he pleases, 
while the shipper will have little chance to get at 
him. This is one of the games which the dealers 
will play in order to evade the law. Many of them 
will not apply for a license, expecting to induce 
farmers to send them goods which they can sell as 
they see fit without being responsible under the new 
law. The farmers and shippers have it in their 
power to decide whether this Cole law will succeed. 
Right after August 1 every such shipper should re¬ 
fuse to sell to any dealer who has not given bond 
and taken a license. Demand such license before 
you sell a pound of produce, and also demand that 
your goods be sold on commission. That will give 
business character to the law, and it will drive the 
dealers who are now holding off right into the har¬ 
ness. This is the part of enforcement which the 
State cannot carry out. The shippers can do it and 
they alone. 
BREVITIES. 
We regard dwarf apple trees as toys. Better use 
standards for business. 
Our reports from Florida show that cement irriga¬ 
tion tiles were not a success in Florida soil. 
It is a mystery how cow peas can find water in this 
drought—but they do. You might call them plant 
camels. 
Rye is better than wheat to seed with vetch. While 
the wheat will make better feed, the rye will serve 
better to hold up the vetch. 
The proposed bridge across the Hudson River, con¬ 
necting New York City with New Jersey, would, its 
projectors think, cost about $42,000,000. 
We nil know how rotation or a change of crop cleans 
the soil or rests it. In this way certain insects or dis¬ 
eases peculiar to one crop may be thinned out by 
planting another crop. A cover crop grown between two 
of potatoes or corn may have something of this effect. 
A new regulation in Australia makes it illegal to 
smoke or chew tobacco in any place where foodstuffs 
are manufactured, prepared, stored, packed, canned, 
delivered or sold. Under this law a Melbourne milk¬ 
man was fined 10 shillings for smoking a cigarette 
while delivering milk. 
A Pennsylvania correspondent says that in his lo¬ 
cality country butter is not reliable, and the only mar¬ 
ket for it is for cooking. Good country butter, if ob¬ 
tainable, would bring 30 cents now. Me wonder 
whether that market would not be worth while if prop¬ 
erly cared for? 
Assistant Secretary Sweet of the Department «f 
Commerce, states that the government has small 
islands off the Alaskan coast which it will rent tor 
fox farming, and will also provide breeding animals 
at a low price. Canadian enterprise in breeding blacK 
and silver foxes causes our government to encourage 
such work here. 
